


Run Like the Wind in My Boots

by ponymom



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Good clean fun, M/M, at least as clean as the dirt, city boy louis, country boy Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 09:28:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19331788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ponymom/pseuds/ponymom
Summary: Louis is a city boy being introduced to the fun of a county fair by his boyfriend, Harry. Can there be fun in all this dirt?





	Run Like the Wind in My Boots

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "foot". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/foot), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1 and 2), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/185709101043/wordplay-2019-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).

“One more time, explain to me why this is supposed to be fun”. Louis is still in doubt about this entire outing, but this might be the most ludicrous thing about the day.

Harry is still grinning at the fact that he has Louis here in the first place. When Harry met Louis during their first year of university, Louis was a city boy through and through, while Harry had been raised on a farm. Louis had taken great pleasure in showing Harry the sights of the city that he had grown up in; it was Harry’s turn to show Louis, now that it was summer holiday. Every year growing up, Harry had looked forward to the county fair and now he couldn’t wait to show Louis the highlight of his summers growing up. Talking Louis into participating in this contest... that was another matter altogether.

“It IS fun, trust me! Look, we are entered as a pair, then we take off our boots and put them in the pile with everyone else’s. You have to find my boots in the pile, put them on your feet, then run back to the line, and I have to find your boots, well MY boots that I loaned to you, I run to the line, then we trade boots and run to the other end. It will be fun!” Louis had not fully understood Harry’s directives on what to pack for the trip back to his home for the summer and had no boots to wear to the fair, only brand new trainers, which while snazzy looking were not ideal for walking through barns with livestock. So, he had loaned a pair of his older boots to Louis. They were not the best fit, but it was better than ruining what was to be assumed to be a quite expensive pair of trainers in an unseen pile of cow shit.

“But how am I supposed to know what your boots look like in that pile of stinky footwear? Do I have to try them all on?”

“No, you just have to find mine, and I don’t think you will have much of a problem.” Harry raises his foot and pulls on the leg of his jeans, revealing his silver boots with red stars going down each side⏤much showier than the plainer ones that he had loaned Louis. They were his show boots, used for when he was riding his horse in shows, but he thought the occasion of showing his boyfriend around his county fair was worthy of them.

Louis eyes Harry’s feet encased in the showy boots. “You really expect me to fit those things on my feet and run in them? I am having a hard-enough time walking in these ones that you outgrew, much less running in boots large enough for me to fit both my feet into just one!”

Harry rolls his eyes, exasperated. “Just try; it will be fun! Everyone else will have the same problem, you’ll see.”

Louis eyes the other pairs. Some were noticeably siblings, some were clearly a couple, then others he just couldn’t tell. But there were some pairs that had a distinct height and size difference. There was one pair⏤well, the young man had to be at least six feet tall, while the young woman he was with barely came to his shoulder. There was no way that he was going to be able to fit one of his feet into one of her shoes. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

“Just promise me that I won’t have to wear your star-spangled glitter boots the rest of the day.”

“You can wear whatever shoes you want, although I recommend keeping the boots. Never know what you might be stepping in.”

“Fine, let’s do this. As long as I don’t look as ridiculous as those guys”, Louis said, nodding over toward the odd-sized couple across the way.

Harry led them over to the area marked off for the race. He gave their names to the person with the clipboard and then started towards the center with the other pairs. There were people hopping around, trying to remove boots, while others just sat in the dirt to untie and unlace whatever footwear they had on, then once removed, tossing them into the growing pile of shoes.  
Harry put a hand on Louis’ shoulder to steady himself as he pulled off his first boot. “Let me get mine off, then I will help you with yours, I mean mine.”

Harry tossed his silver boots into the pile, inwardly smirking that while there was a nice pair of crocodile boots in the pile, his were by far the glitteriest. He then bent to help Louis remove his boots and tossed them into the pile as well. He then led Louis to the starting area. “When the whistle blows, run to the pile, find my boots, put them on, then run back here. This will be harder on me than you, I have to squeeze my oversized feet into undersized boots!”

Louis still wasn’t entirely certain about this, but anything to make Harry smile, he supposed. They waited for the last of the entrants to toss in their shoes and jog back in their stocking feet to the start area. Then some poor soul had to go and mix them all up. The whistle blew and off Louis sprinted towards the pile, Harry close on his heels. Louis did a knee slide up to the pile of shoes and started shoving shoes everywhere in search of the glittery boots. Something flashed out of the corner of his eye and drew his attention to someone else unearthing one of the sparkly boots. He lunged across the pile of shoes and people and tore the boot from the hands of the unfortunate person who found it.

“Louis, this is just for fun! You don’t have to do that!” Harry scolded as he sorted through the shoes next to Louis.

“It’s a race and there’s a winner, right? If I am going to look like an idiot, I might as well win something” Louis retorted, resuming his scramble for the remaining boot.

Another glint caught his attention, revealing the other star-spangled boot. Clutching both boots, he stumbled out of the mass of bodies to get the boots on his feet. For a split second, he pondered which boot was left or right, then decided that it didn’t really matter; they were too big regardless and all he had to do was run back to the start area. Shoving his feet inside the silver boots, he shot up and started running towards the starting line. He got a few steps then tripped up in the too big boots, face planting into the dirt of the arena. Harry’s cackle sounded off from someplace behind him and he shot a glare over his shoulder in the general direction of the sound.  
“You do better! Get moving, Styles!”

Pushing up, he got back to his feet and started off again at a more cautious pace, maintaining a precarious balance between speed and staying out of the dirt. The boots flipped and folded about while Louis fought to get to the start area and get the bloody things off his feet. Staggering the last few yards, he finally collapsed across the line and immediately kicked the boots off. He looked up in time to see Harry take a nosedive into the dirt, looking much like a drunk trying to get home after an all nighter. Louis fell backwards in a fit of laughter when Harry reared back up out of the dirt with smudges all over his face and shirt.

“C’mon, Styles, been waiting for you! It IS a race, you know” he taunted from his viewpoint. Harry staggered back to his feet and looked more like a tipsy ballerina on her toes with his too-large feet shoved into the outgrown boots. Louis took the opportunity to search out the large young man who was now struggling to even take two steps without losing the shoes of his partner who was laughing heartily from further down the line. This was a good laugh, he supposed, as Harry finally stumbled across the line, kicking off the boots as soon as he landed in the dirt.

“Let’s go! I think we have a real chance at this!” Louis yelled as he reached for the boots that Harry had loaned him while shoving the silver boots in Harry’s general direction. He stood up, jamming his foot into the correct position and reached down to help Harry to his feet. Harry was just putting the last boot on his foot when Louis pulled him up and started dashing across the finish line, hand in hand. There were two young boys who could be brothers who were also sprinting towards the finish, the other pairs still struggling with getting to the start area and swapping footwear. Louis was NOT going to lose to a pair of 8-year olds, he determined, and tugged on Harry’s hand to get him to stretch out those long legs and run faster. With a final burst and a flying slide, Harry and Louis crossed the line a fraction faster than the two boys.  
Louis shouted jubilantly, jumping around Harry who was still rolling around in the dirt in fits of laughter. Harry grabbed his ankle and yanked him down to give him a quick peck on the cheek and a snuggle.

“C’mon, let's see what we have won” Harry jumped to his feet, tugging Louis up and heading over to the organizers to find out about their prize.

Ten minutes later, Louis was admiring the medal on a ribbon hanging around his neck as he bit into the mint chocolate chip ice cream cone that was the other half of the winning prize for the boot race. Harry grinned next to him, taking a big lick off his own cone, thinking ahead to what else he could introduce Louis to at the county fair. Maybe even get Louis up on his horse back at home. In the meantime, the Ferris wheel was run by a friend of his, his chances of getting a stop at the top of the wheel were good. Perhaps Louis was more open to the country than he let on.


End file.
